USDA's border gamble let New World screwworm hit Texas wildlife

By Daniel Okafor · Reporting from New York · October 22, 2026

By reopening trade before containing the New World screwworm, the USDA pushed the parasite into Texas wildlife and drove beef prices higher, showing the border gamble failed.

The USDA confirmed the first detection of New World screwworm in US wildlife. The parasite was found in an elk in Pecos County, Texas. According to The Guardian and CBS News, a hunter harvested the animal on a game ranch. The government let the gate open. Now the parasite is in the wild. The USDA and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department are now conducting surveillance. The Texas Animal Health Commission will modify an infested zone. These are reactions to a breach that should not have happened.

The parasite enters the wild

The breach is not limited to one animal. The New Mexico Department of Agriculture confirmed a case in a beef cow in Otero County. Officials established a minimum 20km radius infested zone. Animals in this zone must be inspected before moving. This is a failure of containment. The parasite surged north from Central America through Mexico. It was eradicated from the US decades ago.

The USDA claims the parasite does not affect food safety. However, the USDA admits the parasite can impact meat production. The larvae feed on living tissue. This causes deep lesions in the skin.

The cost of a broken border

The failure of the border plan has a price. Washington halted livestock imports from Mexico last year. This ban lasted more than a year. The import halt tightened US cattle supplies and pushed beef prices to record highs. The Mexican state of Chihuahua resumed live cattle exports after a 16-month suspension.

The economic risk is vast. Federal records show an outbreak in Texas would cost the state economy $1.8 billion. The USDA resumed trade in August at a port in Arizona. This was part of a phased reopening plan. The detection of the parasite in wild elk and New Mexico cattle proves the phase was too fast. The government prioritized trade flow over biological security.

A war of sterile flies

The federal government is now attempting to outrun the fly. Rear Adm. Michael Schmoyer leads the effort. He coordinates more than 240 federal government departments and agencies.

This fight shares the same mechanism as the Screwworm Eradication Program. Both rely on the sterile insect technique to eliminate a parasitic pest across international borders. The USDA has dispersed 795 million sterile flies across Texas since February 2026. They are deploying NovoFly, a genetically engineered fly that produces only males. This doubles the operational impact.

Rear Adm. Schmoyer said the response is effective because producers report cases quickly. He credits the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association for their collaboration. But reporting a case is not the same as stopping a parasite. The US is now playing catch-up with a parasite that has already breached the wildlife reservoir.

The USDA gambled that a phased reopening of the border would satisfy trade partners without risking the livestock industry. The parasite in a Pecos County elk and an Otero County cow proves the gamble failed. The government is now spending military resources and engineering new insects to fix a mistake of timing. The cost of this error is found in the record high price of beef and the infestation of American wildlife. The USDA was wrong to reopen the ports before the parasite was pushed out of Mexico.

USDA's border gamble let New World screwworm hit Texas wildlife

The parasite enters the wild

The cost of a broken border

A war of sterile flies

Sources